Application of portions of material to a travelling surface or surfaces



Dec. 30, 1958 H. A. STONE. 2,865,454

APPLICATION OF PQRTIONS 0F MATERIAL TO A TRAVELLING SURFACE 0R SURFACESFiled May 17. 1955 United States Pa nt APPLICATION OF PORTIONS OFMATERIAL TO A TRAVELLING SURFACE OR SURFACES Horace Alexander Stone,Deptford, London, England,

assignor to Molins Machine Company, Limited, Lon- This inventionconcerns improvements in or relating to the application of portions ofmaterial to a travelling surface or surfaces. In particular theinvention concerns the application of uniting bands to cigaretteelements or portions and mouthpiece elements or portions which arearranged in axial alignment and moving endwise, the uniting bands beingintended to unite a mouthpiece portion to one or more cigarette portionsabutting its end or ends.

According to the present invention there is provided a method ofapplying a portion of material (e. g. a uniting band) to a travellingsurface or surfaces (e. g. constituted by one or more endwise movingcigarette portions axially aligned with and abutting at least onemouthpiece portion) comprising the steps of causing part of anadhesive-coated portion of material to adhere to a surface or surfaces,and thereafter causing a gaseous fluid such as air to be blown againstsaid portion in a direction such as to tend to urge the portion againstthe said surface or surfaces.

Further according to the present invention there is provided means forapplying a portion of material (e. g. a uniting band) to a travellingsurface or surfaces (e. g. constituted by one or more endwise movingcigarette portions axially aligned with and abutting at least onemouthpiece portion) comprising a conveyor (e. g. a suction conveyor) toconvey an adhesive-coated portion of material towards and press part ofit against said surface or surfaces, and means (e. g. an air jet)arranged to urge towards said surface or surfaces a part of said portionwhich has not been pressed against said surface or surfaces asaforesaid, the said last-named means being arranged to operate on saidpart while the said portion is still partially on said conveyor.

Further according to the invention there is provided an apparatus formaking mouthpiece cigarettes by joining endwise-abutting cigaretteportions and mouthpiece portions by means of uniting bands, means forapplying such uniting bands, comprising a conveyor arranged to feedportions of adhesive-coated material (which constitutethe uniting bands)towards, and to apply them to, a mouthpiece portion and one or morecigarette portions abutting the mouthpiece portion, while said portionsare moving endwise in axial alignment, said conveyor having ports in itsconveying surface, a suction chamber communicating with said ports tohold said portions on the conveyor by suction, and a blowing chamberadapted to blow air through said ports against a portion which has beenapplied as aforesaid.

The drawing illustrates a side view of a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

Apparatus according to the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawing, which shows a suction conveyorconstituted by a drum 1 which is provided with ports 2 in its peripherywhich constitutes its conveying surface. A fixed suction chamher 3communicates with the ports 2, the chamber being connected by means of aconduit 4 with a suitable source of suction. A web 5 of suitablematerial such as cork tipping material is fed to the surface of the drum1 and is held thereon by suction. The web is however fed to the drum ata controlled speed less than the peripheral speed of the drum.Consequently the drum slips beneath the web. A knife 6 is arranged tocut the web at intervals such as to separate from it portions ofmaterial which are to act as uniting bands. Such a portion: is shown at7. As soon as a portion is thus severed from the web (it moves with thespeed of the conveying surface of the drum, and therefore becomes spaced.apart from the slower-moving web. The. web is coated with adhesive byan adhesive-applying roller 5a before reach? ing the drum. t

The knife 6 is one of a pair of knives arranged to slide endwise inguides 16 in a rotatable knife carrier 17 which is arranged to rotate inthe direction shown by the arrow. A hammer 18 is arranged to strike therear end of each knife in turn as the carrier rotates. Thus each knifein turn is given a sharp forward thrust against the influence of aspring 19, which retracts the knife as soon as therear end of the latterhas moved past the hammer. These operations are timed so that the edge20 of a knife is projected against the web to cut it against a hardenedinset 21 on the conveying surface of the drum 1.

The separated, adhesive-coated portions such as 7 are fed towards andapplied to a continuous succession of double-length cigarette portionsand mouthpiece portions, indicated by the references C1, C2 and M, insuch a way as to extend along the whole of the mouthpiece portion M andpartly along the'ends of the cigarette portions C1 and C2 which abut themouthpiece portion. Pressure is applied in any suitable way to themouthpiece portion and cigarette portions from above so as to cause thegummed portion of material (hereafter referred to as a uniting band) tobe pressed against them firmly. It will of course be understood thatonly the central part of the uniting band is pressed against themouthpiece and cigarette portions by the drum and the band at this stageis flat.

The cigarette and mouthpiece portions are conveyed towards the drum 1 bya conveyor tape 22, and pass from the drum on to a further conveyor tape23. A short bridge 24 guides them from the tape 22 on to the drumsurface.

The uniting band after it has been thus applied is wrapped around themouthpiece and cigarette portions by folding mechanism similar to thatused on continuous rod cigarette-making machines for wrapping acigarette-paper web around a tobacco filler.

Due in part to the fact that the uniting band is precoated withadhesive, however, there is sometimes a tendency for the sides of theband, after the latter has been applied by the drum 1, to curldownwardly and outwardly from the mouthpiece and cigarette portions, orfor its sides to tend to hang downwardly. Such a tendency is likely tocause difiiculties because the edges of the uniting bands may foul thefolding mechanism, or may strike the conveyor tape which carries thecigarette and mouthpiece portions through the folding mechanism.

In order to combat this difiiculty, a fixed blowing chamber 8 isprovided in the drum 1. This chamber receives air under pressure througha conduit 9, and discharges it through the ports 2. As can be seen fromthe drawing, the blowing chamber 8 is so located that air will bedischarged against a uniting band 10 which has just been applied to themouthpiece portions M and cigarette portions Cland C2, and this air isblown in such a direction as to tend to urge the uniting band againstthe portions M and C1.

This discharge of air may be strong enough to cause the uniting band 10to be bowed or curled somewhat Patented Dec. 30, 1958 v upwardly asshown in the drawing, thus in effect commencing the operation ofWrapping it about the portions M and C1. In any case it is found that bythe arrangement whereby air is blown against the band as soon as it hasbeenflapplied, the tendency for the band to curl or how downwardly canbe satisfactorily overcome.

In the above description the uniting hands are said to be applied toacontinuous succession of double-length cigarette and mouthpieceportions, as illustrated in the drawings. It will, however, beunderstood that the apparatus can equally well be used in applyinguniting bands to separate assemblages each consisting, for example, oftwo single-length cigarette portions with a double-length mouthpieceportion between them and in endwise abutment and axial alignment withthem.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes by joiningendwise-abutting endwise-moving cigarette elements and mouthpieceelements by means of uniting bands, means for applying such unitingbands, comprising a conveyor arranged to bring adhesive-coated unitinghands into contact with successive groups each consisting of amouthpiece element and at least one cigarette portion abutting themouthpiece element, while said groups are moving endwise in axialalignment in such manner that parts of such a band extend laterally awayfrom such a group, said conveyor having ports in its conveying surface,a suction chamber communicating with said ports to hold said bands onthe conveyor by suction and a blowing chamber adapted to blow airthrough said ports against the extending parts of a band which has beenapplied as aforesaid, thus urging said extending parts upwardly towardsaid cigarette and mouthpiece elements, whereby portions of saidextending parts will be caused to adhere to said cigarette andmouthpiece elements to provide an upward curl in the remaining unadheredportions of said extending parts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS811,108 Tyberg Jan. 30, 1906 1,393,524 Grupe Oct. 11, 1921 1,980,188Cullen et a1. Nov. 13, 1934 2,118,783 May May 24, 1938 2,150,512 MayMar. 14, 1939 2,152,416 Molins Mar. 28, 1939 2,180,481 Ruau Nov. 21,1939 2,180,669 Edwards Nov. 21, 1939 2,205,943 Davidson June 25, 19402,714,384 Schubert Aug. 2, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 286,421 Great BritainMar. 8, 1928 1,098,049 France Mar. 2, 1955

